Functional shoe

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a functional shoe including support housings inserted into a receipt hole formed on a mid sole of a sole and provided with a screw formed on the inner surfaces thereof, an arch support provided with a head formed integrally with the upper end thereof and inserted into any one of the support housings through screw connection such that the height of the arch support may be adjusted vertically, a plurality of recesses formed on the upper surface of the sole, and acupressure protrusions inserted into the plurality of recesses. The functional shoe facilitates strengthening of function of a specific portion of user&#39;s body and blood circulation, promotes discharge of waste to improve circulation troubles, and improves acupressure efficiency. Further, the functional shoe enables a user to perform three-step walking, thereby reducing user&#39;s fatigue. Moreover, the functional shoe lowers the price of a shoe product, thus being economical.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a functional shoe, and more particularly to a functional shoe which includes a sole formed in a shape contacting the sole of a foot from a heel of the foot to an arch of the sole of the foot and provided with a plurality of through holes having a regular diameter at the front portion thereof, and acupressure protrusions, each of which has an insert part having a regular length and a hemispherical acupressure part having a varied size, i.e. a large, medium or small size, and formed integrally with the insert part, the acupressure protrusions are respectively inserted into the through holes, and the sole is seated on the inner bottom of the shoe, so as to stimulate a specific portion of a sole of a user's foot requiring acupressure according to the shape of the sole of the user's foot to facilitate blood circulation and to promote discharge of waste to overcome circulation troubles, and to vary sizes of the acupressure protrusions to adjust a strength of acupressure.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, the foot is composed of 26 bones, 33˜38 joints, 20 muscles, and 100 or more ligaments, and is formed in an arch shape. Only the heel of the foot and a convex part of the sole of the foot serve to relieve shock applied to the spine when the foot contacts the ground. Further, in oriental medicine, 12 meridian pathways start from the foot, and 36 acupuncture points reacting with internal organs of the human body including the five viscera and the six entrails are present in the foot. Particularly, vasomotor nerves connected with respective organs of the human body, such as the stomach, the kidneys, the liver, the eyes, and the ears, are concentrated on the sole of the foot, and thus the sole of the foot is referred to as a miniature of the human body. Moreover, when a person walks, pressure applied to the sole of the foot enables numerous capillary vessels to elevate blood by pumping out, and thus the foot is a very important part, often referred to as “the second heart”.

Therefore, from the ancient times, foot management has been emphasized, and as concern for health has increased recently, foot researches and foot management businesses are vigorously developed now. Based on the theory of oriental medicine, if the sole of the foot being one of sense organs is stimulated so as to cause regular exercise of a specific organ, gland, or muscle, the toe parts of the foot corresponding to the head assist prevention of amnesia, dementia, and paralysis, the sole of the foot assists treatment of stiffness in shoulders, indigestion, diabetes, and constipation, and the heel of the foot assists treatment of menstrual irregularity and menstrual pain, and improvement of prostate function. Thus, in addition to a method of getting a massage in a foot management shop or a self-massage method, foot health instruments to simply perform acupressure treatment or massage onto the sole of the foot have been introduced.

As one of the above foot health instruments, there is a shoe insole for acupressure. Acupressure protrusions are formed at a part or the whole of the shoe insole for acupressure so as to stimulate a part of the sole of a user's foot coming in contact with the shoe insole for acupressure, when a user wears a shoe in which the shoe insole for acupressure is installed. The shoe insole for acupressure is formed in various kinds according to shapes of soles of feet of individuals, and is made of various materials, such as cork, leather, various synthetic materials, plastic and carbon fiber, and urethane, or materials containing a far-infrared light or anion releasing substance.

However, the acupressure protrusions having the uniform shape in the conventional shoe insole for acupressure are fixed to a part or the whole of the bottom surface and perform acupressure of a corresponding portion of the sole of the user's foot or the overall sole of the user's foot, and thus the conventional shoe insole for acupressure has a difficulty in substantially adjusting a strength of massage onto the foot according to the acupressure of a specific portion of the sole of the foot desired by the user or the overall sole of the foot.

In consideration of the above difficulty, there is proposed Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 10-2005-0072411, titled “functional shoe insole”.

A functional shoe insole A disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 10-2005-0072411, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, includes a base 1 provided in a shape contacting the sole of a foot from the heel of the foot to the arch of the foot. A plurality of through holes 2 having a regular diameter is formed at a front portion of the base 1, a plurality of rectangular buffer recesses 3 is formed on the bottom surface of the front portion of the base 1, and each of acupressure protrusions 4 includes an insert part 4 a having a regular length and an acupressure part 4 b having a varied size, i.e. a large, medium or small size, and formed integrally with the insert part 4 a. The insert parts 4 a of the acupressure protrusions 4 are inserted into the through holes 2 of the base 1.

However, in the above functional shoe insole, since the through holes 2 are not arranged densely, the acupressure protrusions 4 are not precisely located at a necessary portion, and sine the surfaces of the acupressure protrusions 4 are formed in a spherical shape, an effective acupressure effect is not obtained.

Further, since a flat sole is applied to a conventional shoe, a load due to a user's weight is concentrated on the heel of the foot during walking and is transmitted to the spine, thereby deforming toes, and causing a flatfoot due to a difficulty in supporting a connection portion of the foot as well as imposing a burden to the waist, the shoulders, and the neck, resulting in a pain. Moreover, the conventional shoe does not achieve a three-step walking method known to be the ideal walking method in which walking is carried out by contact of the foot with the ground in order of the heel of the foot, the sole of the foot, and a root of the big toe, thereby causing various problems, such as increase in fatigue.

In order to solve the above problems, Korean Patent Registration No. 239854 discloses a shoe sole including front and rear cutting parts formed on front and rear portions thereof so as to achieve three-step walking, thereby greatly reducing fatigue and exhibiting acupressure and blood circulation functions. However, such a shoe sole does not support an arch of the foot, and has a reduced area of the rear portion contacting the ground due to the rear cutting part, thereby causing unbalance of a human body.

Korean Patent Registration No. 536050 discloses a shoe sole in which a rear heel of the sole is inclined in two stages to have a first ground plane and a second ground plane and a recess upwardly depressed to a designated depth is formed at each of a boundary between front and rear heels and a boundary between the first and second ground planes, thereby correctly achieving three-step walking. However, such a shoe sole also does not support an arch of the foot.

In order to solve the above problems, Korean Patent Registration No. 851537 discloses a shoe sole, which includes a front portion, a rear portion, and a connection portion connecting the front portion and the rear portion, and, in which an arch support is inserted into the connection portion such that the arch support is located at the connection portion from an inner end of the connection portion to a central part of the connection portion, to compensate for an arch of a user's foot during walking of a user so as to induce correct foot development, to smoothly maintain a rolling motion of the foot, and to distribute a load due to a user's weight to prevent diseases and foot deformation.

However, in such a shoe sole, the height of the arch support is fixed and thus is difficult to be set to arches of all individuals having different sizes.

In order to solve the problems of the above conventional soles, Korean Patent Registration No. 0912910 discloses a functional shoe with an arch support.

The functional shoe disclosed in Korean Patent Registration No. 0912910 includes a cylinder housing provided with the arch support inserted into a receipt hole formed on a mid sole and a screw formed on the inner surface thereof, a slider provided with a head formed integrally with the upper end thereof and inserted into and screw-connected with the cylinder housing, and a contact member separably connected to the head of the slider and protruded to the inside of the shoe to contact an arch of a foot. The contact member is formed in a shape corresponding to the arch of the foot, and the height of the arch support is adjusted by elevating the slider by rotating the head of the slider under the condition that the contact member is separated from the head.

However, in the functional shoe disclosed in Korean Patent Registration No. 0912910, since the arch support is fixed to a specific position so as to be located at the center of the sole of the foot, if a person having an arch of a foot, the position of which deviates from the center of the sole of the foot in any one direction of the four directions, i.e., forward, backward, leftward, and rightward directions, wears the functional shoe, the arch of the foot is not elevated or lowered even by elevating or lowering the arch support and thus a height adjusting effect of the arch of the foot in order to achieve three-step walking is not achieved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a functional shoe in which a user moves acupressure protrusions to a necessary random position, differing from conventional fixed acupressure protrusions, to stimulate a specific portion of a sole of a foot so as to facilitate strengthening of function of a specific portion of the body of the user and blood circulation and to promote discharge of waste to greatly improve circulation troubles, and in which a plurality of minute projections is formed on the external surfaces of the acupressure protrusions so as to improve acupressure efficiency.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a functional shoe in which a correct arch portion of a user is precisely elevated or lowered by moving an arch support from the center of a mid sole in any direction of the four directions, i.e., forward, backward, leftward, and rightward directions, so as to allow the arch support to be set to any arch position of different arch positions of individuals to enable the user to perform three-step walking, thereby greatly reducing user's fatigue.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a functional shoe in which acupressure protrusions and an arch support on a mid sole are simply structured and easily installed, thereby lowering the price of a shoe product and thus being economical.

In accordance with the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a functional shoe including support housings inserted into a receipt hole formed on a mid sole of a sole and provided with a screw formed on the inner surfaces thereof, an arch support provided with a head formed integrally with the upper end thereof and inserted into any one of the support housings through screw connection such that the height of the arch support may be adjusted vertically, a plurality of recesses formed on the upper surface of the sole, and acupressure protrusions inserted into the plurality of recesses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional shoe insole;

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the conventional shoe insole;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a functional shoe in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a sole of the functional shoe in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating an inserted state of an arch support into a support housing in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of an acupressure protrusion in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating of the functional shoe in accordance with the present invention in use.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a functional shoe in accordance with the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the functional shoe in accordance with the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a plan view of a sole of the functional shoe in accordance with the present invention. The functional shoe in accordance with the present invention includes support housings 10 inserted into a receipt hole formed on a mid sole of a sole of the shoe and provided with a screw formed on the inner surfaces thereof, an arch support 20 provided with a head formed integrally with the upper end thereof and inserted into any one of the support housings 10 through screw connection such that the height of the arch support 20 may be adjusted vertically, a plurality of recesses 30 formed on the upper surface of the sole, and acupressure protrusions 40 inserted into the plurality of recesses 30.

The support housings 10 are respectively located in four cylindrical holes 10 a-10 d arranged in the four directions, i.e., forward, backward, leftward, and rightward directions, and connected integrally, and a number display unit 11 indicating a height adjusting degree of the arch support 20 is formed at an extension extended radially from the upper end of each of the respective cylindrical holes 10 a-10 d. Concaves 20 a are formed at regular intervals on the upper surface of the arch support 20, a cross-shaped recess 20 b is formed at the center of the upper surface of the arch support 20, and a needle 20 c indicating a number of the number display unit 11 is formed at one side of the edge of the arch support 20.

Each of the acupressure protrusions 40 includes a hemispherical head 41 provided with a plurality of hemispherical hollows 41 a formed therein, a plurality of minute projections 42 formed on the external surface of the head 41, and an insert shaft 43 extended from the center of the head 41 and provided with a conical fastener 43 a integrally formed at the front end of the insert shaft 43.

Now, operation of the above-described functional shoe in accordance with the present invention will be described.

In order to wear the functional shoe in accordance with the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 7, a user inserts the acupressure protrusions 40 into the plurality of recesses 30, and inserts the arch support 20 into the support housing 10 located in any one of the four cylindrical holes 10 a-10 d.

If the position of the acupressure protrusions 40 does not coincide with a portion of the sole of a user's foot requiring acupressure, such as an arch of the foot, the user moves the acupressure protrusions 40 to the recesses 30 at a corresponding position requiring acupressure and inserts the acupressure protrusions 40 into the recesses 30 at the corresponding position.

Further, since arch positions of individuals are different, if the position of the arch support 20 does not coincide with an arch of a wearer's foot, the arch support is moved to another support housing 10 located in another one of the four cylindrical holes 10 a-10 d, coinciding with the arch of the wearer's foot, and is inserted into the support housing 10.

When the arch support 20 is separated from the support housing 10 to move the arch support 20 from one support housing 10 to another support housing 10 or the height of the arch support 20 is adjusted, the user puts his/her finger on the inside of the concave 20 a to rotate the arch support 20, or inserts a screwdriver into the cross-shaped recess 20 b to rotate the arch support 20, and the adjusted degree of the height of the arch support 20 is displayed by a number of the number display unit 11 indicated by the needle 20 c.

Thereby, the wearer may wear the functional shoe under the condition that the acupressure protrusions 40 simply coincide with a portion of the sole of a wearer's foot requiring acupressure and the position and height of the arch support 20 correctly coincide with an arch of the foot.

As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a functional shoe in which a user moves acupressure protrusions to a necessary random position, differing from conventional fixed acupressure protrusions, to stimulate a specific portion of a sole of a foot so as to facilitate strengthening of function of a specific portion of the body of the user and blood circulation and to promote discharge of waste to greatly improve circulation troubles, and in which a plurality of minute projections is formed on the external surfaces of the acupressure protrusions so as to improve acupressure efficiency. Further, a correct arch portion of the user is precisely elevated or lowered by moving an arch support from the center of a mid sole in any direction of the four directions, i.e., forward, backward, leftward, and rightward directions, so as to allow the arch support to be set to any arch position of different arch positions of individuals to enable the user to perform three-step walking, thereby greatly reducing user's fatigue. Moreover, the acupressure protrusions and the arch support on the mid sole are simply structured and easily installed, thereby lowering the price of a shoe product and thus being economical.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims. 

1. A functional shoe comprising: support housings inserted into a receipt hole formed on a mid sole of a sole and provided with a screw formed on the inner surfaces thereof; an arch support provided with a head formed integrally with the upper end thereof and inserted into any one of the support housings through screw connection such that the height of the arch support may be adjusted vertically; a plurality of recesses formed on the upper surface of the sole; and acupressure protrusions inserted into the plurality of recesses.
 2. The functional shoe according to claim 1, wherein the support housings are respectively located in four cylindrical holes arranged in forward, backward, leftward, and rightward directions and connected integrally, a number display unit indicating a height adjusting degree of the arch support is formed at an extension extended radially from the upper end of each cylindrical hole, concaves are formed at regular intervals on the upper surface of the arch support and a cross-shaped recess is formed at the center of the upper surface of the arch support, and a needle indicating a number of the number display unit is formed at one side of the edge of the arch support.
 3. The functional shoe according to claim 1, wherein each acupressure protrusion includes a hemispherical head provided with a plurality of hemispherical hollows formed therein, a plurality of minute projections formed on the external surface of the head, and an insert shaft extended from the center of the head and provided with a conical fastener integrally formed at the front end of the insert shaft. 